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Republicans Looking to Steal Election (Again)?

Are Republicans resorting to criminal activity in order to sway the election in battleground states?

Colin Small, a Pennsylvania man originally reported to have been working as a contractor for the Republican Party of Virginia was arrested by the Rockingham County, Va., Sheriff’s Office on Thursday and charged with attempting to destroy voter registration forms by tossing them into a dumpster behind a shopping center in Harrisonburg, Va.  Small, a former intern for Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Kelly R-PA, was working for the Republican National Committee and was also associated with the firm Strategic Allied Consulting. 

Strategic Allied Consulting had been paid significantly by the Florida Republican Party, either $667K or $1.3M depending on the media outlet reporting, to manage its voter registration campaigns.  Strategic was fired in late September after more than 100 apparently fraudulent voter registration forms were discovered to have been turned in by the group to the Palm Beach County, FL Supervisor of Elections.  No data is available as to how many total voter registration forms had been turned in by the group to all counties across the state of Florida, or how many of those total registrations are fraudulent.

Michael k October 22, 2012 at 07:27 pm
Why does it seem voter suppression and disenfranchisement is part of the Republican strategy every Presidential election?
I know (racist) southern Democrats used to do it frequently before the 1970s but it appears to be institutionalized by Republicans these days.
Phil Lynson October 22, 2012 at 07:54 pm
Some of the tactics that have been deployed in the past and/or are allegedly being discussed this time include:
- Tea Party members "monitoring" polling places in areas with anticipated high Democratic turnout. Allegedly to ensure that voter fraud doesn't occur. Not that instances of voter fraud have been reported or found. The United Nations has decided to monitor Republican efforts to suppress voting in some locations. - In Pennsylvania, a voter ID law was put on hold by a judge. However, there has been widespread misleading advertising in the state claiming that voters will need to show ID in order to vote. - Clear Channel Communications, which is owned by Bain Capital, has been placing anti-fraud billboards in poorer neighborhoods in Ohio and Wisconsin. The nation's largest online civil rights organization has charged Clear Channel with voter intimidation. - In 2002, Chuck McGee a Hampshire Republican Party employee saw a flier put out by the state Democratic Party with phone numbers for voters to call offering them rides to the polls on Election Day. McGee hired a company from out of state to jam the phone lines on Election Day.
Michael k October 23, 2012 at 04:21 am
I just read on CNN.COM that Clear Channel has decided to pull down the voter fraud billboards. Perhaps too late to not have suppressed the vote in the areas where they were put up, but at least they seemed to bow to the pressure.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/22/news/companies/voter-fraud-billboards/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Steve October 23, 2012 at 01:01 pm
Funny how they say again? I think you you remember the votes regarding hanging chads were counted by numerous organizations many times and it was verified that Bush did win. If you want to talk fraud look at some parts of Illnois with more registered voters by far than citizens. The Democrats have brought voter fraud to a fine art and that is why they do not want a picture ID.
Michael k October 23, 2012 at 04:27 pm
Steve - I am unfamiliar with the parts of Illinois with more registered voters by far than citizens. I don't believe you would make something like that up, but I've never heard that reported.
I know the motto of Chicago politics back in the day was "vote early, vote often" but I don't know of any instances of Democrats bringing voter fraud to a fine art.
Phil Lynson October 25, 2012 at 02:41 am
It seems the billboards warning that voter fraud is a felony are being taken down in many cities in the Midwest.
The signs are being taken down in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. Perhaps this is one case in which Republican voter suppression is not working.

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